However Many Words It Takes

I love the English language.  I really do.  There is so much it can do and there is so much it contains (because one of the things it can do is contain just about anything).  We have words that can describe pretty much any feeling or action.

'Awesome' is an awesome word, but some things are not quite awesome.  Some of them are spectacular.  Some are magnanimous.  Some are brilliant.  And some are rad.  Whatever shade of whatever you need, English has you covered.

But sometimes our brains can't do it.  Sometimes we just can't think of that word we want.  It's like, we know what we are trying to say and we know there is a word for it, but we simply cannot produce it.  What do we do?

Well, you can stop, get frustrated, exclaim that you are frustrated because you can't think of the word you want, and then either pause the conversation until you either find the word or let it die.  Or, you could try to use more than just one word.

Crack open a dictionary.  Every word can be defined with more than one word.  (A thesaurus, in theory, shows that every word can be described with one word, but that's a story for another time.)  If you know what you are trying to say, but cannot say it in a single word, then use however many words it takes.

You may not be able to impress people by using 'magnanimous', but you can still explain yourself with "a bright and shining greatness" and still sound pretty eloquent, too.